The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-01-15

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from G,3g3 10 1888, 1872, about 5000 per cent;
Bolton from l7,4l6 u 105, 1922, over JOO per
cent. These cities are celebrated ss man.
ulacturing cities Now compare their
Growth With that Of cities %tnse inhabi'
ants rely chiefly on agricaiseyal resources
and local trade Betwcea 1901 and 1881
Dover increased 81 per H~nt; Somerset 81
and Suffolk II per ccts. The average In
crease of six non ~ sgufacturing counties
did not exceed IS Yor cent in eighty years,
while the average increase In six manuiac-
turing cities %as 600 per cent
The ssrlfe rule of growth holds good In
this country. The cities in which the
greatest amount of manufacturing is done
are the greatest in population, in com
merce and in wealth. Strange as many
will think II (who always think OF Ne"
York as purely trading city, New York
outranks Philadelphia, both in the number
of manufacturing establishments as well
as In the value Of its manufactured pro
ducts, and consequently in population and
In wealth Philadelphia outranks Chica-
90, and Chicago Boston, Brooklyn, Cincin
natl St Louis ana so on. The large cities
of this country as shown by the census OF
1880 rank in population in almost the same
order as they rank in number Of manuiac-
turing establishments Following the same
line of statistics it will be found that the
East is far richer In large cities than the
South and West. The former is barren, as
compared with the south and West, OF ag-
ricutural interests, but strong III its manu-
featuring industries, whilst the South and
West are equally barren as compared with
the East of active, thriving cities. The
South and West have innumerable small
towns built upon commerce unaIiied with
manufactures, but of cities (using the word
in its proper sense there are very few and
the number is only increasing as the PEG
pie realize and act upon the fact that the
absolute essential TO making any point a
centre of population and commercial i'm.
portance is manufactures.
The prime necessity, then, to make Of
lava what it should b. is to increase her
manufacturing industries. 1t will not do
to canfine the manufacturing carried on in
the city TO one particular thing. The in
dustries should be varied, thus drawing to
the city all classes OF artisans There is
no good reason-there can be no good rea-
son-why Ottawa should not be city of
manufacturing and commercial importance
in Illinois and in the West. 1t has every
requisite advantage Ia the way of location
and transp crtation. Ii has both rail and
water transportation, thus insuring reason
able freightage. The coal fields of Strea-
tor, La Sale and Spring Valley are easily
accessible, making fuel fully as cheap as
at any point in the state and practically as
cheap as in those cities themselves; and
having those cities as well as Seneca, Mar
settles, Loceyville, &c, TO draw fuel sup
plies from the market cannot be corn
cred" In short, nature has been more than
bountiful; man alone has been negligent.
We suggest that throughout the ensuing
| year the citizens of Ottawa unite with the
press In making strong effort to secure
the location at this point of manufacturing
| industries that will result in increasing the
| city's population, wealth and importance.
This Is not a question of local pride, the
buncombe of idlers who want something
/ to talk about, or an effort TO direct charity
to some mans or mems doors, to give aid
to some one who can't earn living him.
self, or bolster up Il worthless project; 1t is
purely matter of business: a question of
how to increase local business in a way
that shall make the increase permanent.
| And this Is n question that addresses It.
| self not to the "rich men," who having
made their money and entered (many of
them on the decline of life, naturally are
reluctant to take up new projects that prop
erly belong to younger men, the men still
at work building up their fortunes. They
are the men most interested and yet the
experience of Ottawa is that they are the
very last 10 take hold of any project offered,
the very men who discourage new men
from coming in by holding up to newcom-
ers a picture Of the "cusSedness' Of our
rich men," their stinginess, lack of en-
ergy, the "villanous city government"
and all that sort of stuff. They are the
men who should turn about and go to work,
for they are the men whr would reap the
benefits and not the rich men, who are
entitled to that rest which is the reward OF
man who has earned his fortune in the
sweat of his brow and by the privations of
years of hard work.
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TARIFF REFORM No. 3.